TTC adding extra outreach workers
Pilot program to help connect people with services like physical and mental-health support
The TTC is partnering with a community organization to add more outreach workers to subway stations to help vulnerable people sheltering in transit spaces.
The one-year partnership pilot between the TTC and wellbeing experts at LOFT Community Services begins immediately. Council has put $500,000 toward the partnership.
LOFT will work with the city’s Multi-Disciplinary Outreach Team (M-DOT) program to help people in need of complex and longer-term supports by providing access to case workers and health-care professionals, including registered nurses.
Staff from LOFT will be in the transit system, building relationships and connecting people with services like physical and mental-health supports, and then ongoing care, like income support and helping them access permanent and affordable housing.
LOFT CEO Heather McDonald said seven case managers will be hired to go out to TTC stations and help those in need.
LOFT is not a crisis service, but the city said the one-year partnership will expand the team of providers and organizations delivering services to the most vulnerable populations.
Workers will be deployed throughout the transit system, but MacDonald said some stations have already been identified as places where people are sheltering more than other stations.
“It’s no secret that the pandemic affected all of us, but for some of our most vulnerable community members the effects of the past three years are magnified,” said Shelley Carroll (Ward 17, Don Valley North), chair of the city’s economic and community development committee.
“We’re seeing these challenges first-hand on our transit system,” Carroll added.
The city continues to expand housing supports and make room in the shelter system for those who need a bed, said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie. This year, 1,200 more supportive housing opportunities will become available to those experiencing homelessness.
City data shows on March 21, there were no more beds in emergency shelters for men or women by night’s end. There was one unoccupied bed in a coed adult shelter, and five in youth emergency shelters.
Wednesday’s announcement adds to other efforts by the city to address a mental health and homelessness crisis. The city and TTC have added 20 Streets to Home workers to help people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homeless with immediate needs like water, warm clothing and referrals to indoor space.